mam

Alteration or clipping of mama. Compare Scots mam, Early Scots mame (“mother”), mamye (“wet nurse”), Saterland Frisian Määme (“mother”), West Frisian mem (“mother”). Alternatively, possibly either conserved from or influenced by earlier Brythonic language.

mam (plural mams)

1. (UK, Ireland, regional, informal, colloquial) Mum, mom; diminutive of mother.
   • 2021, Glenda Young, The Miner's Lass

     She'd sit by the fire, arms crossed, demanding that Ruby spike her tea with a cinder. But Ruby would never give in to her demands, no matter how much her mam begged. There was no alcohol in the house now; Arthur had made sure of that in an effort to get Mary sober.

• Used in place of mum or ma in Scotland, Northumbrian dialects such as Geordie, as well as throughout Ireland and Liverpool, Kingston upon Hull, and the South Wales valleys; the Welsh word for mother is mam.

• ma'am

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,

• MMA

From Proto-Bahnaric *maːm. Cognate with Sedang méam.

• IPA^(key): /maːm/

mam 

1. metal, iron, steel

Borrowed from English ma'am, contraction of madam.

mam

1. An address to a female superior.
2. An address to a female teacher.

• IPA^(key): /mɑm/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑm

mam f (plural mammen, diminutive mammetje n)

1. mother

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Compare Old Irish muimme (“foster mother”), Proto-Celtic *mammā.

• IPA^(key): [mˠamˠ]

mam f (genitive singular maime, nominative plural mamanna)

1. mam, mum, mom

• maime
• mamaí

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “mam”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

• IPA^(key): [mam]

mam

1. first-person singular present of měś

• mamk a hamk

mam

1. contraction of mat + dem; with the

Cognates include West Frisian mem.

mam f (plural mamen)

1. (Mooring, Föhr-Amrum) mother

   mam an aatj

   mother and father

• IPA^(key): /mam/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: mam

mam

1. first-person singular present of mieć

mam

1. second-person singular imperative of mamić

mam f

1. genitive plural of mama

• mam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

mam (Cyrillic spelling мам)

1. (Kajkavian) right now
2. (Kajkavian) immediately

• odmah

From the name in Mam, of Mayan origin.

mam (plural mames)

1. (relational) Mam (of or relating to the Mam people)

mam m (uncountable)

1. Mam (language)

mam m or f (plural mam or mames)

1. Mam

• “mam”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

From Middle Welsh mam, from Proto-Brythonic *mamm, from Proto-Celtic *mammā, a baby talk word replacing Proto-Celtic *mātīr.

• IPA^(key): /mam/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -am

mam f (plural mamau)

1. mother
2. ancestress
3. dam
4. queen bee

Some, especially northern, dialects employ a non-standard aspirate mutation of mam to mham. In practice, this only occurs after the determiner ei (“her”). See also nain to nhain for a similar example.

• mab (“son”)
• merch (“daughter”)
• tad (“father”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “mam”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

mam

1. father